An inscription on the front of the frame states that this enamel is copied after Joseph Kriehuber (1800 – 76) and that the original dates from 1830. There are, however, no watercolours of this sitter by Kriehuber recorded in the Royal Collection.

Ferdinand, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, second son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorff, married, in 1815, Maria Antonia, only daughter and heiress of Francis Joseph, Prince of Kohary, Chancellor of Hungary, and settled on the extensive Kohary estates in Hungary after the death of his father-in-law. His sons, Princes Ferdinand, Augustus and Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, and his daughter, Princess Victoire, later duchesse de Nemours, were the cousins to whom Queen Victoria was most attached. Of her uncle, Princess Victoria once said: 'After dear Uncle Leopold, I love him much, much the best of any other Uncle I have' (Journal, 1 April 1836).

Signed, dated and inscribed on the counter-enamel in black paint: H.S.H. / Prince Ferdinand / of Saxe Coburg / after Kriehuber / 1829. / Painted by W. Essex 1842 / Enamel painter to Her Majesty / & H.R.H. the Prince Albert